The Fourth Kind (2009)

A thriller involving an ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances during the past 40 years and there are accusations of a federal cover up.

Director:

Olatunde Osunsanmi

Writers:

Olatunde Osunsanmi (screenplay), Olatunde Osunsanmi (story)

Stars:

Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Milla Jovovich	...	Abbey Tyler / Herself
Will Patton	...	Sheriff August
Hakeem Kae-Kazim	...	Awolowa Odusami
Corey Johnson	...	Tommy Fisher
Enzo Cilenti	...	Scott Stracinsky
Elias Koteas	...	Abel Campos
Eric Loren	...	Deputy Ryan
Mia McKenna-Bruce	...	Ashley Tyler
Raphaël Coleman	...	Ronnie Tyler
Daphne Alexander	...	Theresa
Alisha Seaton	...	Cindy Stracinski
Tyne Rafaeli	...	Sarah Fisher
Paul Stefanov	...	Timothy Fisher (as Pavel Stefanov)
Kiera McMaster	...	Joe Fisher
Sara Houghton	...	Jessica

Storyline

In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. Modern-day, Alaska, where-mysteriously since the 1960s-a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented. The Fourth Kind exposes the terrified revelations of multiple witnesses. Their accounts of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details, the validity of which is investigated throughout the film.

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Plot Keywords:

alien | alaska | owl | abduction | patient | 

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Taglines:

There are four kinds of alien encounters. The fourth kind is abduction.

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Genres:

Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violent/disturbing images, some terror, thematic elements and brief sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [France]

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Aboriginal

Release Date:

6 November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die vierte Art

Filming Locations:

Bulgaria

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£851,476 (UK) (6 November 2009)

Gross:

$25,464,480 (USA) (1 January 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Gold Circle Films, Chambara Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to promotional materials from Universal, the film is framed around a psychologist named Abigail Tyler who interviewed traumatized patients in Nome. However Alaska state licensing examiner Jan Mays says she can't find records of an Abigail Tyler ever being licensed in any profession in Alaska. Ron Adler, CEO and director of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute and Denise Dillard, president of the Alaska Psychological Association say they've never heard of Abigail Tyler. Web sites for an "Alaska Psychiatry Journal" and "Alaska News Archive" containing references to Tyler were created by the film's producers, but were outed as hoaxes when it was discovered they were registered a month before the film's release and the purported author of one of the archived news articles stated she had never written it.

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Goofs

The lead-in to the scene where the sheriff is interviewing Dr. Tyler lists the time as 3:45am, but later in that scene, the clock in the background clearly shows 2:15.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Abbey Tyler: I'm actress Milla Jovovich, and I will be portraying Dr. Abigail Tyler in The Fourth Kind. This film is a dramatization of events that occurred October 1st through the 9th of 2000, in the Northern Alaskan town of Nome. To better explain the events of this story, the director has included actual archived footage throughout the film. This footage was acquired from Nome psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler, who has personally documented over 65 hours of video and audio materials during the ...

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Crazy Credits

Over the closing credits; there are a series of radio interviews with eyewitness to close encounters of the first to fourth kind

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Connections

Referenced in Watchman Video Broadcast: The Poison of Dragon/Alice Bunker and 2012/Building Blocks of the New World Order/The Lion of C.S. Lewis (2010)

User Reviews

Truly Abysmal

Anyone who hasn't realised that the whole film is fiction, even the supposed archive footage, after more than a few minutes is probably gullible enough to swallow the whole thing. That's fine by me. Let them stay home and watch similar films to this and reduce the oxygen they waste.

Unconvincing storyline, annoying characters with whispery voices, not even a hint of novelty in what laughingly passes for a plot. At about the ten minute mark I wanted to pull the plug. At thirty minutes I wanted to pull the plug. After the halfway mark I wanted to pull the plug but kept watching in the belief that it had to get better. If your instincts tell you to pull the plug, do so. It doesn't.

I want one minute, thirty three minutes of my life back.